Aimee Duffy

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Monday, 26 January 2015

Amelia Thorne has another
fabulous book coming Valentine’s Day – and here’s the gorgeous cover.

‘We’re
from KMW. Do exactly as you’re told and you won’t get hurt...'

Being
grabbed off the street, blind folded, tied up and thrown into a van was not
what Izzy expected to happen when she stepped out the door that morning. But
when an accidental kidnapping at the hands of the sexy Ethan Chase and his
'Kidnap My Wife' sexual fantasy business leads to just that, Izzy seizes the
chance to turn her misfortune into a brilliant new job opportunity…

Since
then, life has been one big tangle of new client meetings, fake kidnapping
pick-ups, and handling the temperamental, but drop dead gorgeous 'bad boy' Mr
Chase. But, as liberating as being tied up in Ethan's life is, Izzy knows the
time is fast approaching when she must make some decisions and take charge of
her future. The only question is: will Ethan allow himself to be a part of it?

Friday, 28 November 2014

To celebrate the release of One Hundred Christmas
Proposals, Holly Martin is doing a fab giveaway. Make sure you enter! The prize
sounds amazing.

One
Hundred Christmas Proposals is out now, here’s the blurb

The
eagerly anticipated follow-up to One Hundred Proposals.

If you thought Harry & Suzie’s life couldn't
get anymore sweepingly romantic than Harry asking her to marry him at the end
of One Hundred Proposals – think again!

It’s Christmas in a snow-kissed London, and
the.PerfectProposal.com have vowed to carry out one hundred proposals in
December. No easy task at the best of times - made even more complicated by
Harry & Suzie trying to plan their first Christmas and a visit from the
dreaded in-laws. But one hundred deliciously Christmassy proposals later they
find themselves asking if everything is still perfect in their own
relationship….

Welcome back to the divinely warm world of One
Hundred Proposals – with a sprinkling of pure, joyful, festive magic.

Have yourself a very merry Christmas indeed with
Holly Martin’s Christmas novella.

From Holly

I love
this story and I’m so excited about you guys reading it too. I never thought I would write a sequel for
any of my novels, but catching up with Harry and Suzie, two of my favourite
characters, in London at Christmas was a story that was begging to be
told. What I love about this story is
instead of Harry proposing to Suzie, we get to see some of the amazing
proposals they organise for their clients and we learn a little about their
clients lives too. One of my favourite
proposals in this story is the sightseeing flight over London with the proposal
written in flowers on a boat on the Thames.

Now you
can win a sightseeing flight over London too and experience some incredible
views of our capital.

This experience gives
you a unique perspective on the sights of London. After a short pre-flight
briefing, you'll board a Piper Seneca twin-engine plane for a fantastic half
hour sightseeing trip.

After
taking off in Essex you'll follow the Thames west into the heart of the city,
getting a unique view of the capital. You'll see the O2 arena, Tower Bridge,
HMS Belfast, the towers at Canary Wharf, The London Eye, The Shard and the
Houses of Parliament. Then turn north to fly over Trafalgar Square and Buckingham
Palace, before heading back east to land in Essex. You'll get an amazing
perspective on the geography of the city and the beauty of its landmarks, so
whether you're a tourist or a Londoner, you'll see the capital in a whole new
way. And if flying isn’t your thing, this would make the perfect Christmas
present for someone in your family.

All
you have to do to be in with a chance of winning is copy one of the
pre-prepared tweets below, tweet it and you’ll automatically be entered into
the draw to win this prize bundle. The
more you tweet, the more times you’ll be entered.

The
competition will run until midnight (UK time) on Sunday 14th
December so plenty of time for tweeting.
Every time you tweet, you’ll be entered into the draw.

Monday, 20 October 2014

Today we have the first glimpse at the cover art of HarperImpulse
author, Jill Knapp's next book, "We've Always Got New York",
coming out November 20th! This novel is book #2 in the "What Happens
To Men..?" series, which is now available in paperback in Great Britain.
The first book has gotten rave reviews, and has divided its readers into two
groups. Are you on Team Michael? Or are you on Team Hayden?

"We've Always Got New York" picks up after Amalia Hastings returns to Manhattan from her trip
to Brazil to find that life has in fact gone on without her. Fresh off the
plane, she is left feeling anxious and unresolved, left alone to pick up the
pieces, and deal with the repercussions of choosing her own path over Michael.
Amalia finds herself without an apartment, without a job, and starting to
wonder if she's even without a best friend!

Now here's a sneak peak at the first chapter of "We've Always Got
New York"!!

Chapter 1- Amalia

I could tell by the look on her face that she was expecting something
from me. She was expecting something to be different. For me to be, in some
way, changed.

I’m Amalia Hastings, and on August 20th at 9:17 pm, I
was home.

Home. The word seemed funny to me because I didn’t have a home to go
back to. I moved out of my apartment right before leaving for Brazil and after
my friend-with-benefits, Michael, showed up at my apartment, asking me to stay.
I hadn’t thought it through properly; I just knew I didn’t want to live in that
apartment anymore. Before my trip to Brazil I packed up what little stuff I
owned and put it in storage for when I returned, assuming I would deal with it
then. Well, “then” has become “now”. So for tonight I was staying with my best
friend Cassandra. Who was currently waving at me.

I knew what she wanted. She wanted stories. Juicy ones that involved hot
hookups on the sand. She wanted to see pictures. Pictures of the places I went,
the food I ate, and the hot guys I met. She wanted me to run up to her in a sun
dress, hair braided and skin tanned, and explain, no, to pontificate, to her
how life-changing my trip was. She wanted me to playfully link her arm around
mine and gush about how amazing it all was. How I was changed forever. That I
had a new appreciation for life, food, and music. She wanted me to tell her
that I would never be the same.

But this isn’t the movies and I’m not Julia Roberts.

The florescent lights above me flickered, making the airport look dark
and ominous. I looked down at my hand as I pulled my rolling suitcase across
the sticky, tiled floor. Not even my hand had acquired a tan. Three months in
the Brazilian sun and my skin remained as pale as ever.

Cassandra was looking right at me with wide, unblinking eyes. I walked a
little slower.

For some reason I couldn’t pinpoint, coming off the plane felt like a
surreal experience to me. Although I was relieved to have landed, and I
wouldn’t have wanted to stay in Brazil any longer, I still wasn’t utterly happy
with being back. I wondered if it merely had to do with the fact that I had no
apartment to go back to and was feeling pretty untethered from not having a
proper home.

There’s an old saying. I’m not really sure where it’s from or who said
it first. Kind of the proverb equivalent of The House of the Rising Sun.
It proffers, “Wherever you go, there you are”, and up until about one month ago
I had no idea what it meant. But now it means everything. It rings in my ears
like a scolding mother, repeating itself over and over again until I submit.

I finally stood face to face with Cassandra, who was grinning like a
fool at this point. She was dressed down for the night, wearing a purple
racer-back tank top that showed off her summer glow, jeans, and gold
flip-flops. Her blonde hair was pulled into a loose, messy bun and her make-up
was minimal, apart from the extra-shiny, coral lip-gloss she was wearing. She
reeked of summer.

“Hey,” I offered, looking down at my sneakers. I wished I had more
energy for her, but after ten hours on a plane it was all I could muster up.

Cassandra cocked her head to the side and smiled. Her hair swung back
and forth and she popped her hip out like a model in training. She looked as
fierce as ever, even dressed-down in comfortable summer clothes.

“That’s all I get? Get over here!” she said, pulling me in for a hug.

I hugged her back for a moment and then pulled away, overcome with
exhaustion and jet-lag. I smiled at Cassandra. She smelled like a salty coconut
and I realized she had probably come straight from Fire Island, a beach not too
far from Long Island and just outside of the city. That explained the
dressed-down attire, but not the lip-gloss. Unless, of course, we were going
straight back there from JFK airport.

I looked back at the gate. Most people I knew hated airports, but I
liked them. They offered a chance to escape. Get on a plane and in six hours
from now you could be across the country. You could be in a different town, in
a different house, with a different group of people. I think we all took that
for granted.

I could go back to Brazil right now. Or I could go somewhere else.
I’ve never been to Cincinnati; I wonder what it’s like there. Or maybe
Savannah. I could definitely live in Savannah! I took a step backwards, away
from Cassie. Back toward the inside of the airport. She just smiled.

Cassie threw her arm over me and smushed our faces together. She whipped
out her iPhone and flipped the camera application around so the front lens
could be used and snapped a picture of the two of us. Before I knew it, she
uploaded the picture to Facebook with the caption “So excited, Amalia is
officially home!”

Without glancing back, she
walked a few feet in front of me and remained glued to her phone. The back of
her Havaianas smacking onto her heels echoed throughout the now nearly empty
hallway. I let out a long sigh that Cassandra didn’t hear and pulled my suitcase
toward the exit. Yep, it was official. I was home.

Saturday, 4 October 2014

Eve Devon’s new book, The Love List, is out now! Here’s
a little teaser to get you in the mood.

Falling in love
is just not on Nora King’s To Do List…

Neither is accidentally super-gluing her shoe to her
hand right before the biggest presentation of her life!

With all the hard work she’d put into securing the
family business after her father’s death, Nora has no choice but to accept help
from a knight in shining armour.

Disaster relief worker Ethan Love is still haunted by
his last deployment, and desperate for distraction. He’s in town to ask Nora
for a major favour, and swooping in to save her presentation is a sure way to
get her on side.

As Ethan sticks around and helps Nora through her
grief, her barriers tumble down…but will she dare to swap her To Do lists for a
How to Fall in Love list?

‘I should probably not have ridden us
so fast,’ she said her breath finally coming out in a rush.

His eyes blazed white heat while his
smile was gentle and did something to joggle that twisted mess of emotion
inside of her. ‘Speed-freak.’

‘You say that as if it’s a bad thing.’

‘On the contrary. Fast can be good.’

‘Exactly.’ Nora nodded, unable to deny
that she wanted to escape this any longer. Making his kiss happen in a rush of
heat was what she would focus on to calm the swirling vortex of anticipation.
‘There’s nothing wrong with speed if it means you bypass the waiting,’ she
said, staring at his lips and willing him to lower his head.

Ethan chuckled and her gaze whipped up
to meet his eyes. Damn it, there she was admitting stuff again. If he didn’t
shut her up with his lips, soon she’d be admitting to him how the sheer size of
him when he was up this close and personal with her made her feel all…
protected and… needy.

‘But if all you ever do is rush to the
end— don’t you sometimes feel like you’re missing out?’

‘Missing out?’ she frowned.

‘Hmm.’ Ethan lowered his head to
nuzzle her hair away from her ear and whisper, ‘Because sometimes slow can be
good. Better even.’

Nora’s eyes rolled back in her head at
the combination of his words and the feel of his breath in her ear making her
last-ditch cautious, ‘Ethan, what are we doing?’ come out on a distinct sigh.

‘Oh, I think you know what we’re
doing.’ His thumbs brushed the underside of her jaw as he tilted her head up.
‘You do know, don’t you, Nora?’

‘Maybe.’

‘And maybe you like. Maybe you want.’

‘Maybe,’ she managed to get out. Her
hands came out to latch onto the hard wall of his chest. Definitely. She licked
her lips. ‘But—’ What happened after? Her fingers clenched against his sweater.
She needed to know. So she could prepare.

‘No buts. Like I said; if I see
something I want, I make sure I get it.’

‘And it has to be slow like this,’ she
rushed out, her hand snaking under the heavy knit to get even closer. Closer to
all that hot muscle.

Her breath blew out and landed against
his throat making him shudder against her, but still he insisted, ‘I kind of
think it does. I want time to discover the secrets of your mouth.’ His lips
hovered a millimetre above hers, intoxicating her, confusing her, mesmerising
her. ‘You going to give up those secrets for me, Nora?’ he whispered.

I kind of
secretly believe it’s not too late for me to train as a professional dancer,
MMA expert, or get asked to be Angelina Jolie’s body-double. I know. This is
why writing fiction is for me!

Growing up in
locations like Botswana and Venezuela gave me quite the taste for adventure and
my love for romances began when my mother shoved one into my hands in a
desperate attempt to keep me quiet during TV coverage of the Wimbledon tennis
finals! When I wasn’t consuming books by the bucketload, I could be found
pretending to be a damsel in distress or running around solving mysteries and
writing down my adventures. As a teenager, I wrote countless episodes of TV
detective dramas so the hero and heroine would end up together every week. As
an adult, I worked in a library to conveniently continue consuming books by the
bucketload, until realising I was destined to write contemporary romance and
romantic suspense myself. I live in leafy Surrey in the UK, a book-devouring,
slightly melodramatic, romance-writing sassy heroine with my very own sexy hero
husband!

I hope you
enjoyed the teaser from The Love List and you can find out more about me, or
drop by for a chat—which I always LOVE, here:

Friday, 5 September 2014

I’m
thrilled to have Emily Wood on my blog today. She's sharing a little about her new (and fabulous, I can attest to that) release, Let It Burn! I loved it and let me tell you, it certainly raised the
temperature on my summer!

Now,
over to Emily…

Hello
everybody! Thank you for stopping by to read about my new release Let It Burn…

Blurb

Sometimes
one person can make you question everything you thought you wanted.

Lydia
James is a struggling scriptwriter with big dreams. She's determined to conquer
the movie world, and equally determined to stay out of the limelight while she
does it. So what happens when she meets Ryan Sharpe, a British actor and
Hollywood's next big thing? He could hold the keys to her future, but with him,
flying under the radar doesn't seem to be an option.

Ryan
has learned his lesson when it comes to women. In his experience, relationships
mean heartache and pain. But when he meets Lydia, everything changes. She's a
breath of fresh air, and everything he didn't even know he was looking for.
There's just one problem—she doesn't want to be a part of his life. Will a
weekend in Saint-Tropez give Ryan the opportunity he needs to win Lydia's
heart, or will their desires turn to ashes?

Content
Warning: explicit sex

Excerpt

"So what is it about the
party that you're so desperate to avoid, Lydia James?"

She sucked a breath in and blew
it out slowly. She didn't miss Ryan's eyes flickering to her breasts as her
chest heaved. They lingered there for a moment.

"Honestly, I'm totally out
of my depth." She paused, wondering how much he would actually want to
know and how much would just be a rant. She decided to go for it anyway.
"I'm a writer. Or at least, I want to be. I have a story…a script. I also
have an agent who brought me here to make connections. That's what he said
anyway, but…he's been hinting that he expects to get something out of this, if
you get what I mean."

"Ah."

"Yeah. Obviously, I would
never do that. But how the hell do I get out of this? Do you have any idea how
hard it is to get an agent?" She remembered who she was talking to.
"Of course you do." And then she looked at him again—he probably had
exclusive rights to Hollywood based on his jaw-dropping good looks. Even mere
mortals like directors and producers bowed down to gods. "So my problem is
how do I get out of this without him blackening my name forever?"

Ryan's face had been a picture of
amusement since the moment he'd turned on the light. But suddenly something far
more dangerous danced in his eyes, although he was obviously struggling to hide
it. A thrill shocked her whole body before finally settling in her lower
abdomen.

"The damage has been
done," Ryan said. His voice was slow and tight. "You can kiss your
agent goodbye. Not literally though. I'm afraid the industry is rife with
people like that, and if he doesn't take you seriously now, then no offense,
but no amount of sexual favors are going to change his mind."

The blush that had colored her
cheeks earlier was nothing compared to the heat that filled them under Ryan's
angry gaze. Her skin was suddenly so hot that it made her eyes water. She felt
dirty and ashamed, and she hadn't even done anything. Jesus, she wouldn't have
even dreamed of doing anything with that man out there.

"I already knew that,"
she snapped. "I came in here to get away. But how do I… Whatever I do now
I'll offend him."

The anger in Ryan's face melted
away enough for mischief to creep in. He stood up, walking over to her in a
slow, deliberate way that had her heartbeat doing the exact opposite. She
pressed her back against the door as he approached. He was even more
captivating up close. A tiny corner of her consciousness worried about what he
intended to do while the rest of her screamed approval at all of the naughty
things racing through her mind.

But of course, she wasn't in a
fairy tale, and heartbreakingly handsome actors didn't kiss lowly dreamers like
herself. He stopped short, his perfectly sculpted lips moving to breathe in her
ear rather than meet her own. Lydia let her eyes flicker closed, his
intoxicating, spicy scent threatening to turn her into a puddle at his feet.

"If the only man who could
make your career is about to drop you, then there's only really one thing to
do."

"What's that?" Lydia
managed to croak, painfully aware of how close she was to touching heaven.

I have always believed that the
best stories are the ones that you can't put down, the ones that transport you
to a different place and make you believe in the characters. This is exactly
why I write… I have always loved the escapism that reading and writing
provides, and there is nothing more exciting than imagining your own set of
characters, and then letting them practically write the story for you. Writing
has always been a dream of mine, and I'm lucky to have the kind of people
around me that have always nurtured and encouraged my passion.

I live a cozy little life in
Wales, and when I'm not writing I'm taking care of my young family, and
studying for a degree in Classical Studies. I love traveling to new places,
meeting new people, and experiencing new things…it's all great inspiration for
my books!

Thursday, 4 September 2014

Guess what? Stable Mates by Zara
Stoneley is out today! I’ve got this beauty on my Kindle and can’t wait to get
stuck in, but first I nabbed Zara for a little interview – I was dying to know
more about her summer bonkbuster!

Q. Thank
you for letting me pick your brains, Zara. Can you tell us a little about the lead
characters in Stable Mates?

There are lots of characters in this book – it’s
different to anything I’ve ever written before. I’ve inserted a list at the
start of the book – so here are some of the main ones!

Eee I’m dying to get stuck in now! Sounds
like there’s going to be lots of crossed wires, drama and smexy times.

Q. Why did you choose the village of
Tippermere as a setting?

Tippermere
is a combination of some of the places I love in Cheshire. I wanted the real
feel of the British countryside, but also the contrast with an upmarket
‘waggish’ village. In Cheshire, horse trailers and Landrovers compete for space
with Ferrari’s and Jags! (If you want to find out more about Tippermere, I’m
running a series of posts on my website – Welcome to
Tippermere )

Folks, you should check out Zara’s posts
– they’re brilliant! But come right back :o)

Q. What is the juiciest secret in your
story?

The
identity of the person who really controls the destiny of Folly Lake Manor, and
Tippermere!

TEASE! Guess I’ll just have to read it
to find out.

Q. The cover is gorgeous! Can you give
us a teaser with one of the items, maybe the whip? ;-)

I
love this cover, it just sums the book up perfectly! Fun, champagne and horses.
I will tell you that champagne isn’t just for drinking, and that the pink bra
has a matching thong!

Q. What inspired you to write a
bonkbuster?

I’ve
always loved reading them, Jilly Cooper, Fiona Walker, Victoria Fox are some of
my favourite authors. It just took a nudge from my editor to convince me that I
could do it! This book was such fun to write though, I’m addicted now, the
follow up is under starters orders!

I do love those authors too and I’m sure
I’ll be able to stick you on my fave bonkbuster writers list shortly! Now for
the blurb and a little sneak peak of Stable Mates…

Blurb:

Secrets and scandals, love and lust –
when the ‘Cheshire Set’ are up against the ‘Footballer’s Wives’ the only common
ground is carnal…

Flirting and fun seem the perfect
antidote for Lottie's battered heart, and where better to find them than back
in tranquil Tippermere, home of sexy eventer Rory Steel, the smiling Irish eyes
of hunky farrier Mick O'Neal, and mysterious newcomer, model Tom Strachan?

But when landowner Marcus James drops
dead unexpectedly, and the threat of his waggish wife Amanda selling the heart
of the village out from under them looms large, things look like they're about
to heat up in and out of the saddle.

With tensions running high, and the
champagne flowing as freely as the adrenalin, is it any wonder that love
catches more than one of them unawares?

Bestselling
author Zara Stoneley lives in deepest Cheshire surrounded by horses, dogs, cats
and amazing countryside. When she’s not visiting wine bars, artisan markets or
admiring the scenery in her sexy high heels or green wellies, she can be found
in flip flops on the beach in Barcelona, or more likely sampling the tapas!

Zara
writes hot romance and bonkbusters. Her latest novel, ‘Stable Mates’, is a fun
romp through the Cheshire countryside and combines some of her greatest loves –
horses, dogs, hot men and strong women (and not forgetting champagne and fast
cars)!

She
writes for Harper Collins and Accent Press.

Sneak
peek:

Lottie walked on to Rory’s yard just as a man she’d never
seen before stripped his t-shirt over his head and displayed a very attractive
six-pack. She counted. It was definitely a six-pack. And she was pretty sure
that if she had seen it before she would have remembered. Bodies like that
tended to make a lasting impression.

Driving back from Tipping House, she’d had two things on
her mind. One, what was her grandmother up to? Because she was definitely up to
something as far as Tom and Uncle Dom went. And two, why was Tom here, in
Tippermere? Why here exactly? There was something he wasn’t saying, and she had
a horrible feeling there was something Elizabeth knew. Or why would she have
been so interested?

Both thoughts were swiftly delegated to the back of her
mind though as the beautiful naked torso, or was that naked beautiful torso,
grabbed every inch of her attention. As he had his top fixed firmly over his
head, and so couldn’t see, there didn’t seem to be a problem in taking
advantage and staring. So she did. Until she realised he’d thrown the clothing
to one side and she was staring open-mouthed at a guy who was staring straight
back at her. He wasn’t open-mouthed though, he looked slightly concerned, like
she might be a deranged mad woman escaped from the nearest loony bin. She shut
her mouth.

‘Sorry.’ And went red. ‘I, er, have you seen Rory, or er
Pip?’

‘You must be Lottie.’ Now that was the type of deep,
dark, sexy voice she thought only existed in her imagination. She’d always had
a thing for a nice accent, and Irish just shot straight to the top of the hit
parade. Lottie resisted the fleeting urge to shut her eyes and ask him to keep
talking. Then it registered that he knew her name. And she didn’t know his; she
really would have remembered if she’d met him before. With or without clothes.
Definitely.

About Me

Lover of shoes, books and all things sparkly. Living a double life: Law by day, romance author by night. My first book, The Monster of Fame, has been accepted by Beachwalk Press! More details to follow :o)